Hope Is Fragile
by MidnightClockwork
Summary: (AU, accepting OCs) After a dangerous outbreak of the undead hits the city, Ashley and Hikaru find themselves trapped without a clue of what to do next. They attempt to make their way away from the remains of their home, unsure of what to do or where to go next. Along the way, they'll meet other survivors, make new friends, and face dangers as they try to cope with the new world.
1. Chapter 1

**I've always wanted to do a zombie AU, so now I am. I haven't written anything since about 2016, mostly due to just school and life getting in the way. I'm excited to start this though! With that being said, I'm not sure how frequent updates will be. My goal is every other weekend, but that can always change. I've had this story idea for a long time, in fact, I recently found notes I wrote about it in an old notebook and was inspired to post this. I am also accepting OCs and the information for that will be at the end of this and on my profile, so feel free to send in a few if you're interested.**

The whole room was silent. None of the students sitting at their desks dared to move and neither did the teacher standing at the front holding the remote. The whole school seemed to be quiet, devoid of even the smallest sound. The news was the only sound, the woman's serious tone of voice sent chills down Ashleys back as he sat with his class listening. The girl next to him had covered her mouth in shock, and he could see the other boy beside him about ready to get sick. Suddenly the screen flickers black, and the teacher moved to hit the power button on the remote a few times. The lights flickered as well, causing the students to break out into a chorus of chatter.

"Can you believe that?"

"It's obviously staged!"

"That man...he just attacked that woman…"

Ashley sat still in his seat and looked out the large window to his left. It was raining just as it had been all week. The skies were gray with the occasional flash of lightning or boom of thunder. As the student's around him began to grow louder the teacher attempted to settle them down. Ashley looked over at the girl beside him, Hikaru Hasama, and tapped her on the shoulder. The blue-haired girl looked over with a small jump in her seat. "Are you okay Hikaru? You don't look too good."

She shook her head, "something bads gonna happen. I can feel it."

"Do you really believe that news story?" Hikaru gave a small nod, and Ashley scoffed.

"It's just a hoax. You really think that man attacked that woman?"

"He was trying to bite her." Before Ashley could argue back the teacher had asked everyone to stand up and follow him outside of the classroom. Most of the students did, but some lingered with a frightened expression, while others insisted they wanted to go home. Ashley picked his bag up from the side of his desk and followed towards the end of the crowd. He spotted several other classes doing the same as them, heading towards the front entrance as several teachers lead them, whispering among themselves with worried glances.

Ashley wasn't sure what was going on. He'd been sitting in his second hour of class when one of his classmates insisted that the teacher begin to play the news. It had been reported another story about a man who'd attacked a woman earlier the previous morning. For no reason apparently, and when the authorities took him into custody he was unresponsive and acted mindlessly trying to attack anyone he set his sights on. Ashley had thought of the man as some crazy person who needed to be taken away, but many rumors had begun to fly around since them. Some said that he had some kind of disease that was driving him crazy, while other told that he was a dead man walking. A zombie. The word made him scoff. That was impossible. Ashley didn't believe in those like Hikaru or Masamune Kadoya for a second.

When the exited the school Ashley was met with the steady drizzle of rain. He spotted the yellow of the school buses lined along the road as the teachers ushered he and the others towards them. He overheard one of the teachers talking about taking the students to one of the designated safe areas that had been mentioned in the news. Ashley looked around, something was going on. He could hear just down the street the screeching of tires and the shouts of people. Was it some kind of emergency? He could smell smoke, perhaps there was a fire nearby that was putting everyone in danger. Looking over Ashley spotted a few of his classmates breaking from the group. A friend of his, Ginga Hagane was one of them. Behind him Ashley heard a teacher yelling for a young woman to get back to the group, dreading to look over to see who it was Ashley gave a small peek. Hikaru was the one running from them all. The teacher began to rush everyone onto the busses, but Ashley suddenly felt overwhelmed. He could feel his phone buzzing over and over again in his pocket, the dampness of his sweatshirt clung to him, the adults were pushing and yelling at him to follow the rest. He even heard Hikaru scream as she made her way through the main street. Without thinking he took off to follow her, shouting for Hikaru to get on to the bus with him.

The young man's eyes lit up with the gleam of fire from where two cars had collided with one another. People ran around. Some carrying bags of food or water with them. Others drug their children quickly to get out of the mess of the scene of looting and panic. Ashley trudged through puddles, trying to avoid those who were running the other way. He spotted Hikaru just a bit ahead, pushing through a crowd of people. "Hikaru!" He shouted, "Hikaru get back here it's not safe. You're going to get hurt!" He finally caught up with her as he took hold of her arm.

"Let go of me!" She snapped, yanking away from him.

"What are you doing? Can't you see that there's some kind of disaster happening? Come on, we have to get back to the school!"

"You go back, I have to go home. You know my mom- she's sick and needs my help!" Hikaru explained over the noise. "You go back, but I need to get to her."

"Wait!" He longed to grab her arm, "it's too dangerous, just come on." Hikaru untangled her arm from his.

"Look around, do you think anywhere is any safer? Look at these people, do you still think that news story was a hoax, Ashley?"

He grits his teeth, "It's impossible-" The raven-haired boy's words caught in his throat as his eyes widened at the sight of something behind the girl. He yanked Hikaru back at the sight of a man on top of another. What almost sounded like snarls came from the attacker, and blood seemed to color the water under them. "That thing...he's eating-"

"We have to go," Hikaru spoke, pulling the smaller boy along as she ran down the street. More of the undead beings had begun to attack those around them and Ashley felt as if he were going to be sick at any moment. The pair ran hard, the sound of those things running after them. They came to a fenced alley, and Hikaru immediately began to climb it, leaving a hesitate Ashley to follow. The teen yelped as the undead gripped the chain links of the fence as he hopped off the top next to Hikaru. They still look human he thought in horror as they clawed at the fence with the desire to get them. Hikaru lead them farther towards her neighborhood. It was significantly quieter here with fewer people in the streets and less of the undead roaming around. Cars that were still running had been abandoned. Doors were either wide open or sealed shut. The pair came across a man who'd been attacked. He was lying on the sidewalk, a handgun discarded not far from where he was. He must've been overpowered by them and dropped his gun. Carefully Ashley moved to take it.

"Just in case." He muttered.

"Do you know how to use it?" Ashley shrugged. He'd never held a gun in his life.

Hikaru leads him to her house, he trailed behind her with his eyes glued to the ground. He was having a hard time coping with everything that just happened. He couldn't believe he'd even ran after her in the first place. He didn't even know her that well, and here he was trying to make sure she was safe. He hadn't even had time to think about his own family. Where they okay? Where were they now? At a safe zone? Held up at home? He wondered what would happen after they go to Hikaru's mother. He knew the woman was sick, and they wouldn't be able to leave with her. What would they do? Stay held up in her house and wait for help? Was help coming? So many questions ran through his mind. He thought about how Ginga had broken away from their class as well, was he okay? He looked down at the black form of the gun in his hands, he wanted to drop it that moment.

Hikaru slowed to a stop as they came before her house. The front door was open. The sight caused the girl to gasp and run towards the house in a panic. She ran inside, quickly looking around for the woman. The house was quiet and dark, and Ashley made sure to close and lock the door behind them. "Mom?" Hikaru called out as she heard a small creak of a floorboard. No answer, so she tried again as she stepped into the dim hallway. Ashley spotted blood on the floor next to the static of the televisions.

"Hikaru?" He called softly. "I think-" She screamed, causing him to dash to her side with the gun in hand. The male took a step back, his hands shaking. The woman, Hikaru's mother, was still dressed in the light blue of her robe from that morning. Except now there was the deep red stain of blood present on her right arm. She walked slowly, lifelessly. He could hear Hikaru begin to cry with shaky breaths as he raised the gun again.

"Don't!" She choked out.

"I have to, or she'll kill-"

"Please!" She begged, obviously too hysterical to really think about what she was pleading him to do. She grabbed onto him, so he shoved her away with on arm. He heard her fall back onto the floor behind him and began to sob hysterically. Ashley looked back to the undead form of the woman and despite wanting to look away as he did so he held the gun as steady as he could and pulled the trigger.

 **Here you guys go, just a short start to the story. I already have a lot planned in terms of my OC and the other canon characters that will be making their appearances as we get through more chapters. Like I said before I would love to write with your guy's OCs, so I'm going to leave the form here at the end and on my profile so you can copy and paste easily. Oh, and a thank you to Silverswirls for helping me a bit with getting started with writing again, as well as allowing me to use her OCs Emily and Lily for future chapters.**

 **Name:**

 **Age:**

 **Gender:**

 **Personality: (The more descriptive you are the better I can write you OC.)**

 **Appearance:**

 **Clothing:**

 **Clothing #2: (Optional)**

 **Likes:**

 **Dislikes:**

 **Weapon: (What they prefer to use to defend themselves, what are they good at, etc.)**

 **Canon character(s) they'd work well with/would want to find: (optional)**

 **Strengths:**

 **Weaknesses:**

 **What is their goal? To find someone they're missing, reunite with friends/family, just survive, etc**

 **What Kinds of things would give them hope?**

 **If they were in a group with other survivors, what role(s) would they fit best in? Leadership, rationing, supply runners, medical, etc.**

 **Injures or health issues:**

 **How well do they cope/endure:**

 **History: (Where were they when everything went wrong, etc.)**

 **Love interest: (Optional. I'm not sure how big romance will play into this yet though.)**

 **That's it for now, but I'll probably have more questions for your OCs as the story goes on. If you have any questions or anything just ask!**


	2. Chapter 2

Ashley and Hikaru had held themselves up in Hikaru's house for the next week to come. They avoided going outside as much as they could. They could hear the growls of the undead walking the streets, and neither of them wanted to step back outside. So, Ashley convinced Hikaru that they should stay put. The pair made sure to be careful rationing the food that was in the house and was even more careful with rationed the little water that was in the house. The electricity had gone out the first night, and a few days later the water had stopped running, causing them both to begin to worry about just how long they could keep safe in here. The same night Hikaru's mother had to be killed Ashley made Hikaru go upstairs and rest while he went outside to get the rotting body outside of the house. At first, he contemplated just leaving her there, but when he spotted the shovel leaning against the shed in the backyard he decided that it would best for Hikaru to bury her. So, he did. He spent a long time digging, but he finally finished the deed sometime after dark.

Ashley had never been good with words. So, when he saw just how depressed the girl was acting he wasn't sure how to handle it. She didn't speak to him for two days, until on the third morning when they woke up. Ashley woke up that morning to find Hikaru gone and the front door unlocked. He had panicked to find that she'd taken the handgun with her and feared that he'd been left behind. Thankfully she returned a few hours later with a bag of supplies and a new friend. Hikaru had picked up a little furry friend, saying that she'd found the dog locked in the back room of a shop she'd been looking around in. Ashley didn't want to keep it, seeing the animal as a possible liability, but when he noticed just how taken Hikaru was to the chocolate-colored retriever, he saw this as her little way of grieving.

Two weeks slowly drew, and Ashley had almost lost track of time. The raven-haired male had been absentmindedly running his hands through the dogs, now named Bear, deep brown fur when Hikaru walked up to drop an empty backpack in front of him. "We're out of food and water." She stated, "we need to get more."

"Is there even a point?" Ashley spoke monotonously. "The world has gone to hell. No one's coming for us, do we even know there's anyone else alive?"

Hikaru narrowed her eyes, kicking him. "We don't have time to sit around and sulk anymore! I want to keep living, and I know you do too!" Ashley didn't answer, but he reluctantly stood to follow the girl outside. It was fairly warm outside, and Hikaru was grateful that it had finally stopped raining. "We should head towards the school. There are a few places along the way we can check out and we can look around the school as well."

"There isn't much ammo left," Ashley commented.

"You're right" she sighed, I guess we should find something along the way to help defend us."

Ashley nodded in agreement. "There a place down the road that sells camping and hunting supplies, we could go there."

"Good thinking. There's probably a lot of useful stuff there if it all hasn't been taken already."

Bear followed between Ashley and Hikaru as they made their way deeper into the city. Everything looked as it had two weeks ago. The road was cluttered with abandoned cars and the bodies of both the undead and once living humans. An eerie breeze blew through the city, as Ashley commented just how quiet it seemed. It looked like the world had been put on pause. Ashley noted that most of the windows to the shops were broken, and doors were open, probably from others breaking in to take things. Some cars were simply abandoned with doors hanging open, while other had been crashed or were charred from catching fire. Many things were lying on the road including broken bottles, purses, and bag that had been dropped, papers, etc.

Hikaru stopped, motioning to where one of the undead was crouching and tearing into the remains of a body. Ashley lifted the gun but was stopped. "The sound of gunshots will likely attract more of them to us." Hikaru took a steep to the side to lean to the ground and pick up a tire iron that had been discarded from a crashed car. "We need to be quiet." Ashley watched as the girl slowly walked over to the undead, prompting it to stand and turn and let out a raspy growl as it inched toward her. Hikaru began to talk herself up as she almost hesitated to lift the new weapon. She squeezed her eyes shut and took it out. "I've never taken one out that way." She spoke as Ashley's hand landed on her shoulder. "You need to practice doing this way as well." She turned and shoved the tire iron into his hands.

Ashley split off from Hikaru to go into the hunting store while she looked around in a shop across the street for water. It was a small locally owned business, not large like other places that were closer to the country outside of the city. The male pushed open the door, and above him, a bell was hit and rang. His lavender eyes widened as he shut the door behind him and was met with a pair of the undead rushing towards him. He ran to the side, pushing away one as it grabbed him. Ashley scrambled into one of the aisles of shelves and looked for something that could help him since he'd left the iron with Hikaru and didn't want to draw more attention to himself with the gun. He picked up a hunting knife that had been discarded on the floor and clutched it tightly. One of the undead raced towards him, and Ashley prepared himself to take his free arm to push it back and use the knife to stab the zombie's skull. He resisted the urge to drop the knife as blood oozed onto his hand. He looked over at the other one and did the same to it.

After taking care of the dead that was in sight Ashley grabbed a pack from one of the selves and looked around what remained of the inventory. He'd found another knife the match the one he had as well as a smaller one. He also found a few packs of rope and a tarp that was still packaged, as well as binoculars and a cheap pack of walkie-talkies. When he moved to the camping section he found a multitool containing a few basic tools folded up. Finally, he stuffed some sunscreen and bug spray into the pack as he left. He was glad that he'd managed to collect all that within the torn up place. He met up with Hikaru who was waiting across the street eating an energy bar. "Found some food." He stated, "and a few bottles of water, but nothing that will last us more than a few days."

"I found a lot of stuff that can help us survive if need in there." He handed her one of the spare hunting knives. "No ammo though."

"That's okay. We can conserve what we have left for an emergency. For now, I got us some clothes to change into."

Inside the clothing shop, Ashley laced up the pair of boots Hikaru had given him. His outfit looked similar to his original one with a pair of black jeans and a pair of boots instead of his old running shoes. He also wore a deep blue shirt with some kind of logo that he didn't care about under a black pullover. Hikaru wore the same brown combat boots, her blue jeans tucked into them. She also wore a black top with a small red jacket pulled over it.

"In the movies, they always say it's best to cover as much skin as you can." She spoke, tossing him a pair of black fingerless gloves to match her own. "To have a protective layer." Ashley listened, running his fingers through his dirty feeling hair. "I also found this outside for Bear." She lifted up a small vest from the counter. "It was on a police dog down the road, there were officers lying there."

"I bet they came out when all this started to try to contain it."

"Yeah…" Hikaru hummed somewhat sadly as she dipped down to stop bear into to black vest, giving him some kind of protection.

The pair went to the school as planned next. Ashley stood before the large building as Hikaru broke off to go for a lingering zombie to the side. He looked up to the school for a long moment. It felt like just yesterday he was sitting in his classroom with his friends. And now the once bursting with life area seemed like a ghost town. Looking behind himself Ashley could easily see where the busses had been lined up that morning everything went down. He wondered if they'd made it to the designated safe zones? Perhaps that should be he and Hikaru's next move, to make their way there as well. Hikaru's boots crunched in the gravel as she walked up to the softer male. "Should we go inside?" She asked, pulling him away from his thoughts.

"...I don't think I could bring myself to go in there, to be honest."

"I guess you're right." She responded. "There's nothing in there for us anyways. Nothing besides memories."

"Yeah."

"Ashley, what are we going to do?" Hikaru questioned as she looked over with a watery graze. "As far as we can tell there's no one left around here and we can't possibly keep living off of what we find, can we? It'll all run out eventually."

"In the movies, the main characters set out to find other survivors, right? So, maybe we should do that. Find people that can help us survive. We can head to the safe zone set up on the other side of town. I read on the knees on my phone before we lost signal that soldiers had set it up to help civilians from the threat, that's why everyone was so panicked to get there."

"Maybe they...:" Hikaru looked up with a new shine of hope in her eyes. "Maybe they know how to fix this!"

Before Ashley could respond to her they heard the sound of tires grinding across the pavement, and the form of a car came into view. Ashley grabbed onto Hikaru's arm, and she watched the vehicle intently. This was the first time in two weeks that they've spotted another living human. Relief bubbled in Hikaru's chest as she was grateful to see someone with a car. The silver car rolled to a slow stop, and the window on the passenger's side rolled down. The head of a younger child popped out, and a pair of big emerald eyes observed them. "See Tsubasa, I told you they were heading to the school!"

"Stop yelling Yu." The driver, Tsubasa got out of the car and leaned on the door. Ashley recognized him after a moment as a boy from their school. Tsubasa hadn't been present that day at school, Ashley figured because he had called off to watch his neighbor's kid as he often did. "Looks like we're not the only ones that made it." He commented.

"Ashley, Hikaru it's good to see some friendly face that aren't trying to eat us."

"I could say the same thing too!" Hikaru replied. "It's great to see you guys."

"We saw you guys while we were scavenging around the city, so we decided to follow you to see where you two were going," Yu explained. "Before we say anything else to you guys, you need to answer us this!" Yu looked at Tsubasa to finish.

"Neither of you has been bitten, have you? We're not going to go off your word though, so we're going to need you two take those jackets off and let us see for ourselves."

"Yup! We aren't going to take any chances. If you guys are free of any bites or scratches, then we'll be happy to talk about letting you guys join us."

"Where are you going?" Ashley questioned, pulling his sweatshirt off.

"Same as you, we want to head out to check out that safe camp."

Once Tsubasa and Yu were sure that they could trust them, Hikaru and Ashley soon joined them inside the car. Yu was up front wrapped in a blanket as Tsubasa drove. Hikaru in the back with Ashley with bear lying half in her lap. On the floor between them were their bags as well as Tsubasa and Yu's own supplies. Ashley watched as they drove, moving past the wandering dead and maneuvering around cars. He played with one of the walkie talkies he'd found earlier, eventually handing one to Hikaru. "In case anything ever happens and we're separated." He explained.

Hikaru took it with a soft look in her eyes. "Thank you." She spoke lowly. "Thank you for everything. Thank you for going after me that day and sticking with me."

Ashley nodded, his taking one of her hands in his. "Don't worry, we're in this together. We always will be."

 **Well, here's chapter two! Things are starting to kick off now that Ashley and Hikaru had found more people to team up with and make their way to the safe zones. What could be in store for them along the way? As their story begins, we're going to take a look at another survivor in the next chapter, and possibly introduce an OC, but we'll see how things go.**


	3. Chapter 3

Riko rubbed the swollen bump that was her belly as she listened to the scratching of the nurse's pen on paper. Riko was a beautiful young woman. She was twenty-four and stood about 5''8, though she wasn't her usually weight due to her pregnancy. The bump of her belly was slightly hidden under the white knit sweater she wore, and her ebony hair fell in straight stands around her arms and down to her waist. With a pair of long strands framing her face and bangs cut cleanly covering her forehead. Her caramel eyes sat warmly against her porcelain skin, accompanied by long black lashes.

Riko tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as the woman turned to her. "Everything seems to be alright with you and your baby." The blonde nurse handed her a slip of paper. "Give this to the woman in the tent in just across from here, she'll give you what you need to keep healthy."

"Thank you." Riko slid off the cot, exiting the tent to step outside.

It was dark outside, but bright lights that had been set up keep the are lit up. Many tents had been set up around here, and a mix of brick and fence had been put up. Riko had been one of the lucky ones to get to the safe zone nearest to her. The day everything had gone down the young woman had been a the hospital speaking with her doctor, a lot of the patients had been moved here and she'd been lucky to get caught up in the ruckus and was escorted as well. Before the news stories ever broadcasted the military had this zone setup, which Riko thought odd when she first arrived, causing her to believe that they'd known for at least a few days before the outbreak happened. It put her a bit on edge to think about it though, so she stuck to seeing one of many nurses and doctors stationed here every day to make sure her baby was okay. She was quite worried about all the stress and wear that had been put on her the past few weeks. The camp was safe though, and that's all she could want. With lights powered by generators, one could see the area well. Many tents and other means of shelter had been put up. Medical stations, as well as food stations, were present as well. Riko could almost always see a group of armed soldiers walking the perimeter, or guarding the gates. The rationing was very strict and Riko hoped she'd be able to stay a healthy as she had been before everything fell apart.

Riko was all alone here. She had no family around this part of Japan and none of her friends were her either, though she didn't have many in the first place. As for her child's father, now ex-fiance, she hadn't seen him in months. So, she was quite lonely here. Grateful, but yearning for someone's company. Many of the other civilians here don't want to speak to her, or anyone. Most of them kept to themselves and their families. Riko couldn't blame them though, if her child were here she wouldn't want to trust anyone so freely either.

Once she got her things from the woman at the medical tent Riko headed for where she'd been sleeping the past two weeks. She stepped into one of the long tents that was lined with cots. She went over to one that was closer to the back and frowned as she found that the food that should've been left for her on the side table was gone. She knew someone had taken it, and she also knew that they wouldn't give her anymore due to rationing. She sat down, setting the small armful of things down and grabbing her purse from the ground. The bag was pretty much empty besides her phone and a few other small things. She hid them away inside the bag and beamed at the sight of a large bottle of prenatal vitamins. The occupant of the bed, to her right, got up and walked over. It was a younger man, probably in his late teens. "It's shameful, stealing food from you when you have your baby. Riko was it? Here, take my dinner."

"Oh, no- I appreciate it, but I can't-"

"I insist. You need it more than me." Riko watched the male push it towards her and she took it was a thankful smile. "Thank you. You already seem to know my name, so what's yours?"

"Dashan Wang." He introduced himself.

"Are you from Japan originally?" She asked with curiosity.

"No, I was visiting. I'm from China." Dashan sat down on the edge of the bed.

"It must be hard to be here rather than back home." Dashan noded. "Well, thank you for being kind enough to give up your food." Dashan had been here just as long as Riko had. He'd been lucky to be let in before they ran out of room for more people. He'd been sleeping in the cot just beside her for most of his time here, and he'd never really seen her speak to anyone else here, so he assumed she was alone. He'd felt bad when he realized that someone had stolen her rations, so without another thought, he decided that he'd give her his own. He figured that she'd need it more than he did.

"Don't worry about it. I know a lot of the people here are only worried about themselves, but we should be sticking together." Riko nodded in agreement.

"When are you due?" He asked, trying to keep a casual conversation.

She smiled, placing a hand on her tummy. "About four months from now." She perked up a bit, the feeling of the baby stirring in her stomach. "She's kicking" she stated, "would you like to feel?" She offered, taking his hand and placing it on her stomach. Dashan looked down to the bump under her white sweater, a small smile tugging at his lips. Riko was clearly excited about her child. She'd been brimming with joy over become a mother ever since she found out she was expecting. Even after her fiance left she remained joyful over the thought of her little bundle of joy coming into the world. "I can't wait to be a mother. I just know I'll be a good mom." Riko's smile faded a bit. "I am worried though. I haven't seen outside of this place, but I've heard it's pretty bad out there. Those things are all over the place...sometimes I can hear them at night when everything's quiet. It's very frightening to think about. But I guess as long as I'm here my baby will be safe."

"It is." Dashan stood up, the lights in the bunk were starting to go out, indicating that it was the time they go to bed. "And If you ever need anything, think of me as someone you can ask for help." Dashan smiled somewhat sadly. "With everything that's happening to the world right now, we need to stick together."

"Yes, of course." She thanked him, "It's good to feel like there someone else that I can count on."

The lights faded out in the tent and Riko settled down under her covers. With the world now quiet, she rolled onto her side with a small smile, an arm cradling her stomach as she closed her caramel eyes. And despite the camp being completely silent, Riko could still hear the sound of the undead against the gates outside.

 **Well, here's another short chapter to introduce another pair of the main character for the story. The next chapter will be about them as well as we learn more about the safe camp and what their plans and thoughts for the future may be. I'm thinking chapter five or six will introduce the first OC. Again, this chapter was pretty short as it's only to introduce Riko and Dashan to the story, but as the story gets past the introduction stages and goes forward chapters will likely grow longer.**


	4. Chapter 4

As the days passed Riko and Dashan seemed to grow closer. Neither seemed to have anyone else in the camp to look out for them, so they took on the roles themselves. Dashan made sure Riko was given what she needed and made sure no one sought to steal or bother her. While Riko provided Dashan with the piece of mind that he'd been missing. Despite seeming calm and collected on the outside, Dashan was rather jumbled up on the inside side. Being away from his friends and family in China caused him to worry, and wonder if what was happening here in Japan was also happening all around the world. Flying back to China wasn't really an option either, so he was often left with unanswered questions. The military personnel that was around the camp didn't seem to want to answer anything, or at least not a civilian. Speaking with Riko throughout the day took his mind off of everything and her optimistic nature helped brighten things up.

Today was no different than the rest. Dashan was outside in the afternoon sun alongside a many of the other men that were around. Some were around his age and others older, but they were all doing similar work. The guards around the camp had collected them to help reinforce the fencing and walls around the camp, so Dashan found himself lugging a cart of stone and brinks towards the other to begin setting it all into place. As he worked Dashan allowed his mind to wander. Besides worrying about his friends and family back home he was also concerned with another friend of his. It hadn't been long before chaos broke out that Dashan requested a dear friend of his from Seoul, South Korea come meet him in Japan. She had to of arrived just before everything went down, and he was worried that perhaps she'd been taken off guard and didn't make it. However, he did know that she was capable of defending and taking care of herself, so perhaps she was out there still.

Dashan definitely wanted to head out and find her, but he concerned about leaving the camp. The soldiers looking over them hadn't let anyone new in, they refused to let anyone in or out at the point, which caused worry to settle inside of him.

Meanwhile, as Dashan worked towards the front of the camp Riko could be found outside sitting on the warm pavement with a group of younger children. The small children from around the camp had gathered to play together and Riko had been pulled into it as she passed by earlier to go lay down. The bright colors of the children's chalk popped against the dark cement. Riko was sitting with a little girl drawing with her, and a group of other children ran around them playing tag. "Oh, Miss Riko your birdie looks super pretty!" The girl gushed, crawling to look at the hummingbird she'd drawn in bright pink. "I wish I could draw as good as you!"

"Thank you. I took a lot of classes while I was in school that helped me learn." She smiled sweetly, "but if you keep practicing really hard you could be better than even me."

"Ow! You pushed me!"

"No, I didn't. You tripped!" Looking over Riko spotted the group of running children that had stopped. One of the boys had fallen, blood seeping from the scrapes on his knees. Riko got up to console the sniffling child.

"Don't cry, you'll be fine." She cooed, "I'll get you a band-aid and help you clean up, okay? Just wait here."

Riko left the children to walk down the line of tents to one of the nurses. She could hear the groaning of what sounded like a sick man inside. There were a few people who'd grown I'll or gotten hurt by working on the defenses, so she thought nothing of it. Stepping into the dim coolness of the tent Riko began to ask for a bandage when something threw itself at her. She screamed, falling to the ground as the man-made vicious sounding noises and clawed at her. Riko continued to scream, drawing the attention of many as she kicked at the thing to get it off. Panicked voices filled the camp as everyone around seemed to back away and hold their children or loved ones closer. The sound of a pair of soldiers footsteps could be heard.

Those working by the gates had heard it as well, and worried speaking filled their crowd as well. Dashan was one of the few to actually go towards the commotion and forming the crowd. He began to run at the sound of gunshots. He shoved his way through the forming crowd, stepping out of it to find Riko behind drug away by one of the soldiers and the body of one of the undead on the ground. "Riko what happened?" He called after her, trying to follow his only friend in the camp.

"Get off of me, I'm fine!" Riko struggled, "It didn't bite me!" She spoke pleadingly.

Dashan an idea of what was happening and grabbed one of the men's shoulders, "She not even bleeding." He argued, "why do you have to take her?"

"It's just a precaution. For now, she'll stay inside with the medical staff so that they can make sure she really is okay." The soldier shrugged his hand off, "We're not going to risk the lives of everyone here."

Dashan's eyes narrowed, "then how did that thing get in here?" He questioned lowly as he gestured towards the undead on the parchment.

"That's none of your concern. Just let us do our jobs and protect this place."

Dashan and everyone else who had formed a small crowded was ushered away and encouraged to get back to work while the mess was taken care off. Dashan got back to what he'd been doing, unloading the cart of cement bricks with an older fellow near the front of the camp. As Dashan got back to work Riko found herself inside of the building that acted as the back wall of the camp. She'd never been inside before, only the soldiers and other staff ever went in, since it was where they slept and spent their free time. She nervously sat on the cold metal of the table that sat behind a set of curtains. A nurse she'd never seen before was with her. "I wasn't bitten." She stated again. "I swear that I'd say if I was."

The blonde woman chucked, "Please relax…"

"Riko."

"Riko, if you could just relax and let me have a look at you, you'll be out of here before you know it." Riko listened to the scribbling of the woman pen on her clipboard.

"Why couldn't I see the nurse outside?" She asked curiously.

"We wouldn't the other people out there panicked. If you are bitten then we wouldn't risk keeping you around the others."

"I not bitten." She repeated with slight irritation.

The nurse set her things down, turning to the raven-haired woman. "Then this should be quick."

Outside Dashan finished up as he set another pair of bricks down, his workmate walking beside him as he went to the table with water on it. Dashan just about downed the whole bottle. He was sweating from lugging around all those materials, and the sun beating down on him didn't count. "You know," the man beside him spoke as he ran a wet cloth over his forehead. "That man had been sick in that tent before he attacked that woman."

"What?"

"He'd been sick for a few days now, I suppose he was lying down in the tent with the nurses before they stepped out. I head he'd been coughing up blood all day, I guess he passed in his sleep and came back."

"That would explain how one of them got in here." Dashan sighed. "Even when you think you're safe you're not."

"With the world like this, is there any way to feel safe?"

"Guess not," Dashan replied with a bored tone.

Not long after leaving the front of the camp Dashan found himself walking back towards the tent he'd been staying in. He walked right past where Riko had found the undead man. There was still blood staining the street, but its body had been disposed of. Dashan was about to go into the tent to lay down for a bit, but he was stopped and told to follow a pair of soldiers.

* * *

"What exactly do you need our help with? You're the military here!" One of the other men questions a few seat down form Dashan, who eyed the gun in his hands intently. He'd never held one before, nor had he even shot one and he had no intention to do so now.

"We're short on men." The uniformed man spoke, "we need to have people back at camp to protect those other people, your families."

"But why do you need to leave the camp? We have everything we need there. There no point going out here."

"The supplies won't last forever, especially the water. There was another safe zone set up across the city, that one has all the supplies." He explained. "They were supposed to send a load of supplies to us, but it never made it. The truck must've stopped somewhere along the way. We haven't been able to get into contact with the other zones and we need this supplies."

"So, you're going to give us hand." The driver in the front called out over the sound of the engine. "If it were just the two of us we wouldn't be able to load the supplies and keep an eye out for danger at the same time." The others went on to talk among themselves, some being shown how to work the guns they'd been given, but Dashan didn't pay much attention to them. He had no intention of using that gun anyways. Instead, we looked at the city around him. The beauty of the city he'd once enjoyed was gone. Within the week's buildings had begun to look even more run down than they did after being ransacked for supplies at the beginning. He couldn't see much beauty in the trees and what was left of the plants with the bleak gray of the city surrounding them, along with the mess that was on the streets and the blue of bodies outlined on the ground or stumbling along the sidewalk as they rode quickly past them.

When the car rolled to the stop near the sight of another matching truck that had been crashed into a nearby telephone pole Dashan was last to get off. The others had begun to do what they'd been told to, take care of the undead around the area, while the soldiers rushed to the truck to open the back hatch and begin to pull out boxes. One unloaded them quickly, while two other men began to quickly pack it all away. Dashan was about to go help the man unloading the truck, but he stopped to quickly run to one of the men shooting at the undead, he yanked the undead woman off the man and pushed her away to allow the man to regain his composure and shoot it. The man thanked him and walked away to help the others. Dashan hung back in front of the small building though. He looked into the old toy stores broken front window, looking back at the others he knew they wouldn't be done for a while. So, he stepped over the window frame and into the small shop. He looked around the dim front room, a mess of fallen merchandise around his feelings.

Dashan spotted a little stuffed wolf plushie on the counter. He picked it up, looking at how good it looked. It wasn't dirty or torn, he thought about giving it to Riko. Before he could leave he noticed the shuffling of bodies behind the counter, but before he could check it out a girl popped up with an annoyed look. She'd risen a gun to him, "Drop it." She growled sternly. Dashan calmly looked back at her, the thought of grabbing his own gun hadn't even crossed his mind. The girl didn't look like she was messing around, so he dropped it. He wondered if this was really only about a stuffed toy. He wondered why she was hiding instead of coming to the soldiers for help and shelter. "No, get out of here!" She ordered, a pair of azure eyes glancing towards the window. "Those people are leaving now, so you go too." She didn't lower the weapon and Dashan didn't bother to try to speak to her, she seemed not to be in the talking mood.

Later on that evening Dashan returned with the men he'd gone out with. He jumped out of the truck, watching as the soldiers began to unload the supplies from the other truck. He pulled his bag closer to himself and began to walk away. He was tired, emotionally and physically. He hadn't seen the rest of the city outside of the camp since they the day everything had gone down. He hadn't expected to be greeted with a ghost town, he guessed he just thought things wouldn't have gotten so bad over the course of a few weeks, but perhaps that was just wishful thinking on his part. His mind also kept drifting to think about that girl he'd seen while in that store, wondering if she was still alive by now. He thought about how that used to be someone child or sister. She probably went to school, hung out with friends, or worked much like he used to, but now she was combing the city for anything she could get her hands on to stay alive. Perhaps that where the real difference came between him and the girl. She was trying to survive out there, and he was sitting behind the safety of walls with some kind of piece of mind.

Dashan found Riko in her bed, snuggled under the covers sleeping. He dropped his bag onto his bed and sat down. He watched Riko for a second, thinking about what had happened earlier that day. A small pang of worry in his chest as he thought about how that man had died in his sleep and came back as. He'd only thought about how if someone were to get bite by the undead then they would revert to the same walking dead state, but perhaps that wasn't the case, or at least they were still more to learn about what's happening.

Eventually, Dashan laid back on his bed and closed his eye to try to get some sleep.

* * *

Riko groaned at the sound of her name being called. She pulled the blanket over her head, trying to drown out the male's voice. She wasn't sure why someone was trying to wake her up, but she did know that it definitely wasn't time to get up. "Riko!" Dashan called in a hushed tone as he shook her gently. She peeked a honey eye open reluctantly, it was still dark in the tent since the sun hadn't risen yet.

"What's going on?" She asked groggily.

"Nothing to worry about, but I want to show you something."

Riko followed Dashan outside, sleep still wanting to pull her back to her bed. The sky was a dim blue and Riko figured the sun would be rising soon. There weren't many people outside, and the soldiers that were walking around were easy to avoid. Everyone else was pretty much asleep inside as they carefully crossed the camp, heading towards the side. Dashan stopped at the wall, along the top of it was enough room for others to walked along it and look out over the city outside. Riko usually saw soldiers up there during the day, making sure that the undead didn't get too close or form too big of a mob outside. Dashan climbed up, leaning over the edge after getting up to offer Riko his hand to help her climb up. Riko very hesitantly took the younger males hand and stepped up the wood of the later carefully. Riko followed Dashan's lead in sitting down beside him to look over the city outside. She didn't see anything too spectacular or all that interesting and wondered what exactly they were doing out here.

She didn't want to ask him what they were doing out here again. She assumed that her question would be answered soon enough. Instead, she asked what she'd been painfully curious about since she'd heard that he'd gone out there. "How was it?" She asked, "the city?"

"It was bad." He sighed. "I didn't expect it to be in the shape that it is now, but I guess with all the panic beforehand I should've known."

"Oh." Riko looked down, wondering what could've happened to her little apartment that was even deeper into the city. She wondered about the baby room she'd only just set up, about the school children she'd see every day getting onto the bus. She wondered about her neighbors, and the grocer just down the street.

"Don't think about it too much." Dashan "Oh, advice, and remained quiet for a long moment before speaking again. "I almost forgot." Dashan finally spoke, rummaging through his bag for a moment. "I found this while out there earlier." Riko felt the soft plush of a stuffed animal being pushed into her hands. Riko looked down at it for a moment, a look of adornment shining in her eyes. Before she could thank him he tapped her shoulder and directed her sight to the sky.

The caramel of Riko's eyes seemed to glow at the sight of the pretty pinks and oranges spread across the sky. The air was cool but would grow hot later on. She could hear a stray bird chirping off in one of the trees. The sunrise was beautiful. It was the first one Riko had seen in a while. Living a busy life in the city didn't normally give her the freedom to just watch the sunrise and set every day. She looked over to Dashan, who was just as enthralled with watching the colors paint across the morning sky as she was. Yes, she supposed this was something that the both of them needed.

 **Hre's chapter four! I was pretty busy, so it took me a bit to finish this up. Well, one OC was mentioned, while two made a small cameo towards the end with Dashan. Next chapter is planned to introduce the pair we saw then if I stick to my original plan.**


End file.
